Biergartenopolis: Two (and a half) From Wiseacre Brew

For the second installment of Biergartenopolis, I am proud to turn an eye a few miles down the road to a Memphis brewery, Wiseacre Brewing. As they are a Memphis original, you'll have to forgive me as I laud them and pour my affections over them and their product.

Wiseacre is a newer craft brewery in Memphis, not open long but years in the making. Run by brothers Davin and Kellan Bartosch, two beer knowing em effers. Davin, the brew master, is, in fact a brew master proper- trained all over the world, damn near top of his class at the World Brewing Academy, runs a frikkin brewery, etc. Kellan is a published beer expert, a level 2 certified Cicerone, and has also worked with a bunch of folks in the industry, including good ol' Sierra Nevada. Both guys are also frequent featured speakers at various beer events and push beer education. There are links on their site to some of articles from Kellan- read 'em and start down the rabbit hole, good stuff there.

die Biere

I had originally wanted to make it down to their tap room as my first Wiseacre experience, but the fates had plotted differently and I discovered that the Superlo Foods near my house stocked their cans (for more on why cans, get the four one one here). Check out them thar nifty cans and their holders. The holders are cool, but not exactly user friendly. Once you get the hang of using them, they are a snap (pun intended), but there is a learning curve there- they require some downward force and a little torque to free the can from them, most easily achieved with two hands. Not a big deal as I am a man, so science says I possess manly strength. Mmmmmmmmmmmm... man strength. The strength to free cans of beer from their politely colored plastic shackles and provide said cans of beer to my woman. Mmmmmmmmmmm... woman. 

But I digress. 

Sooooooooooooooo... On to the beers. I will start by saying that I am VERY happy with these beers.

die Tiny Bomb

First up, the aptly named Tiny Bomb, a pilsner. Been a while since I've had a really good pilsner and having read about it before I tried it, I was excited to get my mitts on it. Pilsners often get a bad rap because of the various shitty mass produced options out there. This one should help change your mind on them if you are either on the fence or averse because of said shitty factory production line brewed products. 

I deride the factory big name beers, but some of those big names are actually quite remarkable from a manufacturing standpoint- consistently made, adhering to exacting standards without faltering, and able to be made so in large scales. They should be lauded for that.

But again, I digress.

The Tiny Bomb is a little hoppier than I expect a pilsner to be (which is awesome), it is much milder than an IPA and crisp as expected from a pilsner. It has an herbaceous aroma with a bright start. Almost creamy in the middle. Brighter than your average kolsch, though, and with a similar weight, but still a very easy drinker.

Fuck your mass market swill. This would be a bad ass regular drinker or summer by the grill beer. Take it to parties and share it. I did.

Yum.

Next...

Behold the Ananda.

The Ananda. Oh, how I heart the Ananda. The Sanskrit word for "bliss", the Ananda is an excellent IPA. It's a smooth one- not as heavy as some IPAs, but enough body to remind you that it is awesome. That IPA hoppy bitterness is up front but refined and not overly sharp, well tempered by the malt but with no real sweetness from it. There's an ever so slightly fruity middle with a hint of citrus, and a little bit of a dry finish. Not overly dry, but enough to clean the pallet and leave you ready for your next draw. It's got a nice punch without beating you over the head. 

You'll note that there are some "soft" adjectives in that description, but that is not to say that this one is pussy footing about. All of that should go to say that this is a very well balanced IPA and you can tell that blood, sweat, and tears have been shed in its development. I'm definitely more of an IPA guy of late than anything in my beer preferences, and this one is up there. I would have to have this one next to the Valhalla I briefly reviewed here to firmly establish which of the two wears the mantle of my favorite IPA, but it might very well be this one.  

All of that said, I had the opportunity to go grab a few growlers from their taproom this past weekend to take to some friends' house for a potluck. Should have gotten more pictures while I was there, but...

Da brewery and taproom off of Broad. Memphis, yo.

They have a cool set up going. Tap room with dining/reception room, rentable space, etc. No food served there, but there has been a food truck parked out in the lot the last few times I have gone. 

The taproom, pic from their site.

The couple of times I have been in, the above space and quite a bit of the patio outside was pretty much full. 

 Merches. Scads of shirts, maybe some hats, glasses, growlers.

Busy at the counter.

The ever busy taproom is fed by a steady stream of Ananda and Tiny Bomb in constant rotation with their "seasonals" and experimentals backing them up. I had the chance to meet brother Kellan and speak with him briefly about beer, their operations and aspirations, and get a little beer geekery going. The man described himself as a beer snob, of which I have no doubt, but he was nothing but friendly and gracious. 

The gang there had an event earlier that day, and brought back with them one of their special brews, a coffee milk stout dubbed "Gotta Get Up to Get Down". I sipped on a taster of it while talking to Kellan and it was... marvelous. Brewed with a Columbian coffee from Chicago's Metropolis Coffee, served by Tamp and Tap and with whom the Bartosch gents are pals, it's one of the smoother yet more flavorful stouts I've ever had. Striking a near perfect balance betwixt the coffee and the stout with a creamy finish (but surprisingly little head- the beer itself did all the talking), it's one of the few beers I have had I can honestly say I wouldn't mind having over a plate of eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns.

Vurry good stuff.

So at any rate, I gathered up my growlers, remembered I need a few pint glasses... 

And drove off into the sunset, to share the bounties of Wiseacre with friends over dinner.

Bench sesh - 11/19

Surprise!

Yes, I still do occasionally make it into the gym. I recently switched up to a night shift for the next six weeks or so - 3:30PM to 12:00AM.

Yay.

This is absolute shit for being able to see my family, but it just might work out to let me get into the jamesnasium a little more often.

With so few training sessions recently, it is hard to adhere to a program or be able to chart if my bench is getting any better or not. At any rate, here is tonight's work:

• Bench - warm up sets, then 3x5x125lbs
• Hip abductions with EliteFTS red mini band - 5x20
• Wide handle lat pull down - 5x10x100lbs
• Klokov press - 10xbar, 4x10x65lbs, 8x65lbs
• Unilateral incline dumbbell bench - 5x10x20lbs each arm
• Band pull apart with same band as above - 5x10
• External rotation Ws with EliteFTS orange micro mini band - 3x20

Three scoops ON gold standard whey and a scoop of Haterade in about 20oz water and I'm out the door.

Metal.

YOUR NEXT CAR SHOULD BE A SUBARU

So, yeah... been a long weekend.

I won't post any details as to what happened, but I would highly suggest you buy a Subaru for your next car. Or maybe just go buy one even if you're not looking for a new car.

From Friday-

 

 

 

 

A friend commented that the interior looked "almost disturbingly clean". Yup.

 

All I will say about it at this point is that I was the only one in my car and I walked away with only a minor abrasion on my wrist from where the airbag caught a bracelet and a slight abrasion and bruise from my seat belt.

 

I actually should credit my powerlifting with some of my good condition coming out of the wreck, especially my lack of whiplash, but that car did everything it was designed to do.

 

I was a fan of Subaru before, I am a believer now.

Biergartenopolis: The Portland Wrap Up

Amongst the activities and to dos in my recent trip to Portland, my buddy Brian reminded me that I do, in fact, enjoy beer. That said I feel it is my duty to, on occasion, drink beer and upon completion of drinking said beer report back to you, dear reader, with my findings.

So without further ado...

BEHOLD!

You will have to forgive my gravitation towards the IPAs, I enjoy them muchly and they were plentiful up in the area. Most of this has been already written in the previous chapters of the Portland saga, but here we will gather them up in one place, add a few, and check out an oddity. A freak of nature, if you will. 

But first...

Pic from Ninkasi's site

Ninkasi's Believer Double Red Ale. Ninkasi is a brewery out of Eugene, Oregon. Check the link for their notes on the beer, which I found to be pretty representative of the beer. A little lighter of a beer than I really like, but still very good stuff overall.

Maybe the best IPA ever.

The second beer of the night, which honestly may one of my favorite beers ever, was Elysian Brewing's Valhalla Red IPA. Not representative of Oregon, sadly, as Elysian is located in Seattle, but holy shit was this an awesome IPA. Powerful, but not overly bitter, with just the right amount of citrus and floral notes and a bedroom stare that makes you want to drink it all night. And it's called Valhalla Red IPA. If it's good enough for Odin, it's good enough for me.

Eugene, Oregon's Oakshire Brewing's Overcast Espresso Stout. While Brian didn't like this one (he's not a fan of stouts) I found it rather good. A little bitter, as expected with a stout, without quite the creaminess in the finish of, say, a Guinness or similar. More of a straight up stout, the coffee flavor is well incorporated and not overbearing. A good coffee oatmeal stout. 

Silver Moon Pumpkin Ale. This one was almost a dare. Brian and I were talking about silly peoples and there pumpkin infatuation come the autumn and decided to grab this on the condition that we split it three ways. Fair enough. I have to say that it wasn't awful. Brian couldn't finish his portion and while I didn't mind it, definitely decided I would never drink it of my own volition. We agreed that it wasn't the fault of the pumpkin flavor, really, but more of the spice that used. It has a crisp autumn flavor, like mulled wine and dry leaves, but I don't know that that is really what I want in a beer. In a pie, maybe. In a beer, don't think so. 

Ninkasi Brewing's Tricerahops. If it weren't for the Valhalla previously mentioned, this one would probably have been my favorite beer of the trip. It's a big, bold IPA with just about everything ready to beat your face in without going over the edge. Not as bright as the Valhalla but with the citrus of the hops in good balance with the "bigness" to make a very good beer. Note the 8.8% ABV - it's getting into "big beer" territory but you would barely know it from the flavor. Hell of an IPA.

Ninkasi Brewing's Radiant Ale. Not sure why the difference on the site- on Ninkasi's site they refer to this one as a pale ale and the badging is different on the bottle on the site. If this is considered a pale ale (Ninkasi's site calls it a "Northwest Pale Ale"), it is a light one. Don't get me wrong, it's a good beer, but it doesn't have that punch of a strong IPA. Plenty flavorful with more of the floral and citrus of the hops with the smoothness of the malt making a bigger showing than in an average IPA.

Portland's own Burnside Brewing Company's Sweet Heat. Pretty sure this beer started off somewhere as a bet that someone lost. It's a wheat ale that is brewed with apricot and finished with Scotch Bonnet peppers.

Scotch Bonnets, bro.

It's not a bad beer, but I couldn't get over the juxtaposition of heat and beer. It had a decent rich ale flavor, but for me the pepper and heat complete killed anything having to do with apricot. I made a "This is fucking weird" comment after almost literally every sip of my pint. 

Didn't help that I was also eating my blueberry cake donut between sips.

Good donut, weird beer.

Portland can keep this one.  

Bend, Oregon's 10 Barrel Brewing's Apocalypse IPA. This was a fun one, and the more I think back on it, the more fond I become of it. The first sip was kind of a punch in the mouth. It has all the hoppy bitterness you want out of an IPA but really kicked up the citrus and fruit notes of the hops. Plenty smooth and still very drinkable. Bravo to 10 Barrel for hitting a good balance on this beer. If you don't expect an IPA to be "bright"  and alive this one will change your mind.

Good ol' Ninkasi, back for another round with their Maiden The Shade. The bottle calls it a "specialty ale", and indeed, it is one of their specialty line, and the site refers to it as a "summer IPA", which I guess I can acknowledge. I wasn't a huge fan of this one- it didn't quite stand up like a lot of the beers we had over the weekend did. Not a bad beer by any means- it is just a lighter IPA. No real stand out notes to my uneducated palate, but it definitely did not taste like a watered down IPA- just a kinder, gentler IPA.

As mentioned in the third chapter of the Portland Saga, I stopped in at the Made In Oregon store after passing through security at PDX and picked up a couple bombers to take home. 

But first...

What's all this, then?

Oh... my... god...

In case you can't read it from my laser precise photography...

Beard Beer is brewed with a yeast created from John Maier's beard. No need to freak out, brewers have used wild yeasts in beer making for centuries. John has had the same old growth beard since 1978 and for over 15,000 brews, so it is no great surprise that a natural yeast ideal for brewing was discovered in his beard.

What does Beard Beer taste like? Try it, we think you'll be surprised...

No, god damn it. I will not try it. 

I am the owner of my own beard, not as old a growth as Old John's...

Damn, I'm fine...

but that might make me even more reluctant to drink a beer made from beard fungus. It may very well be a lovely concoction, but eff that noise.

Pic from Ninkasi's site. I hate when I forget to get pictures.

The first of the two purchases was the Ninkasi Total Domination. So I feel bad because I am pretty sure that we had one of these up in Portland while I was visiting, but I forgot to put it in the blog. At any rate, this is a really good IPA. Powerful enough without being overbearing, balanced, a little citrus but not a ton, not too floral or fruity. If I could place any one IPA as the standard or baseline of what an IPA should aspire to, this is pretty damned close. I will say that I enjoy an IPA with a little more punch, but this is a damn fine one that could be sipped or swigged in almost any circumstance. Vurry nice.

The last from the trip was Hellion from Portland's Gigantic Brewing. This is essentially an IPA influenced Belgian style ale. I have to say that I am not generally a fan of Belgians as I find them too sweet, but this one is not bad at all. It has more the body of an IPA or heavy ale, with the sweetness of a Belgian and a dryer finish. If you are on the fence about Belgians, give this one a shot if you have the opportunity.

So there you have it. If you find yourself in the PNW, give any of these a nod. That Elysian is an experience any love of hops should totes treat themselves to at some point, with the Ninkasis providing a solid and reliable back up. A few oddities in there, but all in all I have to say I like what they are doing up in them there woods. 

Go forth, Amurrica, and give something new a try!

Portland, part 3 - donuts, fighting, beer, home

So here we are, folks. The spine tingling, bone chilling, hair raising, and barbarian defeating final chapter in my first visit to Portland. 

Part 1 can be found here

Part 2 resides here

Now where were we... ah, yes... Voodoo Doughnut. How conflicted I am with thee. 

Voodoo is one if those local things that everyone in Portland knows of, takes part in at least once, and then tells their friends and relatives, coworkers, and passers by about. Located on SW 3rd Ave in what is referred to as "Old Town" Portland

Pic from Oregon Dot Com

Voodoo is the brain child of two Portland natives who actually conceptualized it before they knew how to make it. Long story short, they thought it up, realized they actually had to know how to make doughnuts, traveled and learned how to make doughnuts, then brought the skills back to town and set about opening up shop. They must have started out doing something right, because Voodoo is one of those places that forms a line reportedly pretty much at any point in the day and keeps on rolling pretty steady.

That was the line at about 3:00PM or so when we went by. Apparently there was a...

wait for it...

wedding going on inside, so we waited about 30 or 45min for our turn to order. An excessive waste of time for donuts (or doughnuts)? Maybe. BUT it did afford us more time to share dick and fart jokes, get into some social commentary, talk about kids, work, and life in general, and get some people watching in. 

 Slogan courtesy of Austin, Texas.The walking tour guy that passed by even said so.

 What's going on here, then?

 This guy (note the bag)...

is flying this kite. Pinnacle of human achievement.

Inside the shop, pic from their website.

 Coffin full of donuts. Kind of awesome.

Da loot.

So here's the master list of do(ugh)nuts. Brian got himself the Rapper's Delight combo, a blueberry cake and lemon chiffon for Lyndsay. I ordered the Memphis Mafia (natch), the Diablos Rex (durr), the Voodoo Doll (kinda had to), and a blueberry cake. 

Because blueberry cake. Blueberry cake is bossome. I like to use it as a litmus test for any donut shop. If a shop's blueberry cake donut is shite, might as well hang it up.

Do(ugh)nuts procured, hipsters and hippies rock free, we rolled back to the Links' place for some excellent smoked burgers, beer, and fight night. 

First, a grocery trip, then dinner and some pumpkin carving, then a

Silver Moon Pumpkin Ale. This one was almost a dare. Brian and I were talking about silly peoples and there pumpkin infatuation come the autumn and decided to grab this on the condition that we split it three ways. Fair enough. I have to say that it wasn't awful. Brian couldn't finish his portion and while I didn't mind it, definitely decided I would never drink it of my own volition. We agreed that it wasn't the fault of the pumpkin flavor, really, but more of the spice that used. It has a crisp autumn flavor, like mulled wine and dry leaves, but I don't know that that is really what I want in a beer. In a pie, maybe. In a beer, don't think so. 

On to Fight Night.

Fight Night, when the Links were in Memphis, was a hallowed institution of man gathering and has sadly not taken place for the majority of the two years and change the Links have been in Oregon. This trip was, of course, the perfect opportunity to fire it back up, at least in spirit. It was a good card, UFC on FoxSports2, with Lyoto Machida v Mark Munoz as the main card.  That fight was excellent- short, but intense- and most of the undercards were very entertaining. We also watched the Jones v Gustafsson fight that Brian had recorded from September- Gustafsson was cheated in the decision. Few other random fights, and several episodes of Eastbound and Down.

And more beers.

In no particular order-

Ninkasi Brewing's Tricerahops. If it weren't for the Valhalla previously mentioned, this one would probably have been my favorite beer of the trip. It's a big, bold IPA with just about everything ready to beat your face in without going over the edge. Not as bright as the Valhalla but with the citrus of the hops in good balance with the "bigness" to make a very good beer. Note the 8.8% ABV - it's getting into "big beer" territory but you would barely know it from the flavor. Hell of an IPA.

Ninkasi Brewing's Radiant Ale. Not sure why the difference on the site- on Ninkasi's site they refer to this one as a pale ale and the badging is different on the bottle on the site. If this is considered a pale ale (Ninkasi's site calls it a "Northwest Pale Ale"), it is a light one. Don't get me wrong, it's a good beer, but it doesn't have that punch of an IPA. Plenty flavorful with more of the floral and citrus of the hops with the smoothness of the malt making a bigger showing than in an IPA.

Portland's own Burnside Brewing Company's Sweet Heat. Pretty sure this beer started off somewhere as a bet that someone lost. It's a wheat ale that is brewed with apricot and finished with Scotch Bonnet peppers.

Scotch Bonnets, bro.

It's not a bad beer, but I couldn't get over the juxtaposition of heat and beer. It had a decent rich ale flavor, but for me the pepper and heat complete killed anything having to do with apricot. I made a "This is fucking weird" comment after almost literally every sip of my pint. 

Didn't help that I was also eating my blueberry cake donut between sips.

Good donut, weird beer.

Portland can keep this one.  

Also about this time, found that the metal cashier at Voodoo left my Diablos Rex out of the order. Bastards.

Bend, Oregon's 10 Barrel Brewing's Apocalypse IPA. This was a fun one- the first sip was kind of a punch in the mouth. It has all the hoppy bitterness you want out of an IPA but really kicked up the citrus and fruit notes of the hops. Plenty smooth and still very drinkable. Bravo to 10 Barrel for hitting a good balance on this beer. If you don't expect an IPA to be "bright" this one will change your mind.

Somewhere in there this happened-

The Voodoo Doll donut. Yeah, it's pretty much just a big éclair with raspberry filling instead of cream, but it is pretty darned good.

And the last one for the trip...

Good ol' Ninkasi, back for another round with their Maiden The Shade. The bottle calls it a "specialty ale", and indeed, it is one of their specialty line, and the site refers to it as a "summer IPA", which I guess I can acknowledge. I wasn't a huge fan of this one- it didn't quite stand up like a lot of the beers we had over the weekend did. Not a bad beer by any means- it is just a lighter IPA. No real stand out notes to my uneducated palate, but it definitely did not taste like a watered down IPA, just a kinder, gentler IPA.

 Beers done, Kenny Fucking Powers watched, we headed to bed. 

SUNDAY

A little later start to this morning, and much the same ritualistically as the others. Still sad that I feel compelled to check work email first thing.

Shower, "good morning", coffee, one of these

Behold! The Memphis Mafia do(ugh)nut. Decent, but could have been more awesomer. It's essentially a big ass banana fritter with chocolate frosting, peanut butter sauce, peanuts, chocolate chips. In my humblest of humble opinions, the banana and peanut butter were absolutely drowned out by the choco frosting and the chocolate chips. I actually ended up scraping off some of the chocolate chips and wishing for more banana.

C'est la vie, it was good enough and went well with a cup of coffee.   

More dick and fart jokes, more online flight check in, and a Mexican lunch later and Brian and I were on our way back to the airport. I bid my hetero life mate from the other side of the country a short adieu (good byes are never awesome when friends part), and I was in the belly of PDX.

Which is kind of cool, because the belly of PDX contains, amongst other things, the Made In Oregon store, where one has a last chance to purchase Oregon things to take home. Prime place to purchase a bottle of the Total Domination and another beer, Portland's own Gigantic Brewing Company's Hellion. More on that one later.

PDX's security, by the by, might be the nicest security ever. Even got a, "Oh, so you're a powerlifter, eh?" out of one of them upon seeing my EliteFTS shirt. Short conversation, but good to see they're operating with some level of decency and life experience.

Long flight, not awful, hit SLC, another single terminal connection. This almost got a "woot!" until they messed it all up. Instead of a 32min layover with a quick gate transition, I got two hours of this: 

Which really, in the grand scheme of things, was not terrible. Got to charge my phone up and call my lovely wife lady and chat for a bit about her day and our sometimes cooperative now five year old. Always good to hear from home, even if I was almost there.

Hit the ground in Memphis at about 1:30AM, my sainted brother arrived in his Honda chariot to bring my weary self home. 

And oh, how I was home.

Shenanigans had, friends visited and conversed with, 44 liter hiking pack deposited on the couch, I found a little treat, left for me by my wife. 

A little taste of home.

As beautiful as Portland is, as crafty as their beers want to brew, and as weird as their do(ugh)nut shops want to be... can't fade them Gibson's, son!

Many thanks to my buddy, Brian, and his wife, Lyndsay, for enduring my presence for a few days, carting me around town, and laughing at my jokes. Looking forward to getting up there again, hopefully sooner than later.

Squat sesh - 11/05

Short one today, woke up a little late so I only had about 45min after a brief warm up. Still weak as crap compared to even six months ago, but I think it is getting better and I got a little work in.

• Squat to parallel box - 5xbar, 5x95lbs, 5x135lbs, 3x185lbs, 3x225lbs, 3x275lbs, 3x295lbs, 2x315lbs
• Wide stance good mornings - 5x10x135lbs
• Not really of note, but played with a few sets of front squats with just the bar. Technique feels good there. 

So essentially it looks like my max has suffered about 50-75lbs over the last few months of low frequency sessions (best squat before was 410 in wraps in the gym). If you use Wendler's 1RM calculator based on that set at 315, it would make it 335, though I probably could have gotten another rep or two out which would bring my 1RM up to more like 350. Still horse crap, either way. C'est la vie, we keep working and getting better, no?

As you may recall, I also owe you a few grip pictures from last squat sesh. Note that I said "sesh" because I am hip and shit. No time for full words and haters here.

The discussed grip is a false grip on the bar with the pinkies dropped under the bar. Idea behind this grip is that it allows the hands to go far enough out to take a little stress off of the shoulders but still helps you crank your lats in to tighten up the upper back, critical to big squatting. I am, of course, not squatting "big" yet, but I can definitely tell a difference in my upper percentage sets.

Grip the bar as normal, but with the pinky dropped under the bar. Hard to tell from this pic, but my index finger is lined up just about at the first marker line.

Go on and throw that thumb over the top, bruh. 

I have played with the grip both standard and false, ie, thumb wrapped around the bar and thumb over the bar, as in the pic above. False grip feels a little more stable, like I am getting the bar torqued down a bit better. This also takes some stress off the wrist as the extra torque can put the wrist at angles you are not used to. If you remember, I mentioned that last time I tried the grip out that I ended up wrapping both wrists but this time around seemed to be much better. 

Also still working on the wider stance- hip activation is definitely better but my right knee feels like it wants to start caving. More band work, more hip work. 

Would like to have gotten more quad work in, but brudda's gotta work. 

Next time, we front squat a few sets with weight. 

In the meantime, enjoy some Norma Jean...

Portland, part 2 - getting high, getting fat, not going to jail...

Behold the second installment in my two part series on my journey to a strange and distant land, Portlandia of Oregonshire!

The first installment in my two part series on my journey to a strange and distant land, Portlandia of Oregonshire, can be found here.

The second installment in my two part series on my journey to a strange and distant land, Portlandia of Oregonshire, can be found here.

Without further ado...

SATURDAY

Another morning in Oregon, another pleasant earlyish waking. I seemed to wake up at 7:00 - 7:30AM by myself, pleasantly and with little grogginess, etc. I found myself more refreshed upon waking than I normally do back in Memphis with the same amount of sleep.

What could it all mean?

After morning rituals, several cups of coffee, and a baby feeding and nap or two, we packed up and headed out to the Portland Aerial Tram.

It's spelled, "portland aerial tram"

It was a short, slightly precarious trip to the top of the "hill", surrounded on most sides by gorgeous Oregon fall scenery. A few minutes of dangling from a wire hundreds of feet in the air in a metal and plexiglass bubble never hurt anyone.

I had no idea the names that mankind had given to what I saw from up there, but it was lovely.

Gotcha.

Again, not having what one would normally refer to as "seasons" in Memphis, these were cool sights to behold. 

Having seen what we could see, we packed back up and decided to go grab lunch. 

Luckily, just the day before Lyndsay and I were talking to our good friend, chef, restaurateur, and Super Saiyan hair and convertible owner, Guy Fieri, about foodie places in Portland. Or more accurately, I've never met Guy Fieri and the TV was on and we happened to catch a segment of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on Portland and witnessed the heralding of a little shop called Bunk Sandwiches. They're basically a "high end" or foodie kind of sandwich shop, locally owned by a couple of experienced chefs and they make awesome, handmade sammiches for your masticating pleasure. 

They have two shops in Portlandia, we went to the one on SE Morrison. 

Click to zoom in on that lovely menu board.



More of the shop, and Brian. Not a huge place at all.

Our spread

Gaze upon my meat. y sandwich. 

Pretty flipping good sammiches. Lyndsay and Brian both got the pulled pork sandwiches, one of the kids got the grilled cheese, I got the roast beef sandwich. I will admit that we, especially I took it a bit safe on the menu selection, but they were damn good sandwiches. The roast beef came with sharp cheddar, caramelized onions, horsey sauce, and dijon mustard on a poppy seed roll. Flipping awesome. Pretty sure everything was either house made (and well made, at that) or locally sourced, all proportions in balance, all done right. The potato salad was awesome, mustard potato salad with bacon and egg, and accompanied with a (no shit) Mexican Coke. I tried some of Lyndsay's pulled pork and being from Memphis (we are the kings of pulled pork, and we will let you know), I didn't fall in love with it, but it was definitely good- applewood smoked, maybe? The boy didn't want all of his grilled cheese, so I stole some of that, too- vurry tasty with the Tillamook cheese. Could have used a bit more char, in my opinion.

Maybe should have been more adventurous and gotten the pork belly Cubano, but it was a damn near a perfect lunch.

And here's a box cutter. 

The mean streets... er... sidewalks... of Portland.

So from there we went to the only scheduled stop of the whole weekend. Well, maybe not scheduled, but the only thing I knew I wanted to do. 

Besides throw rocks at hippies, but society apparently frowns on that. 

On to Voodoo Doughnut.

Stay tuned for the spine tingling conclusion of...

THE PORTLAND VACATION WEEKEND!